Our greatest weariness comes from work not done.
¶ "Thoughts of Eric Hoffer," New York Times Magazine (25 Apr 1971)
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Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
We are more ready to try the untried when what we do is inconsequential. Hence the fact that many inventions had their birth as toys.
¶ (Attributed)
We are more ready to try the untried when what we do is inconsequential. Hence the remarkable fact that many inventions had their birth as toys.
¶ (Attributed)
People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them.
¶ (Attributed)
The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not to do.
¶ (Attributed)
No matter what our achievements might be, we think well of ourselves only in rare moments. We need people to bear witness against our inner judge, who keeps book on our short-comings and transgressions. We need people to convince us that we are not as bad as we think we are.
¶ (Attributed)
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
¶ (Attributed)
It is easier to love humanity than to love your neighbor.
¶ (Attributed)
Woe to him inside a nonconformist clique who does not conform with nonconformity.
¶ (Attributed)
Intolerance is the "Do Not Disturb" sign on something that cannot bear touching. We do not mind having our hair ruffled, but we will not tolerate any familiarity with the toupee that covers our baldness.
¶ (Attributed)
There are similarities between absolute power and absolute faith: a demand for absolute obedience, a readiness to attempt the impossible, a bias for simple solutions — to cut the knot rather than unravel it, the viewing of compromise as surrender. Both absolute power and absolute faith are instruments of dehumanization. Hence, absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.
¶ The New York Times Magazine, "Thoughts of Eric Hoffer," p. 24 (25 Apr. 1971)
Source: http://www.bartleby.com/73/1448.html
Retribution often means that we eventually do to ourselves what we have done unto others.
¶ The New York Times Magazine, "Thoughts of Eric Hoffer," p. 57 (25 Apr. 1971)
Source: http://www.bartleby.com/73/1612.html
It is probably true that business corrupts everything it touches. It corrupts politics, sports, literature, art, labor unions and so on. But business also corrupts and undermines monolithic totalitarianism. Capitalism is at its liberating best in a noncapitalist environment.
¶ The New York Times Magazine, “Thoughts of Eric Hoffer" (25 Apr. 1971)
http://www.bartleby.com/73/158.html
The ruthlessness born of self-seeking is ineffectual compared with the ruthlessness sustained by dedication to a holy cause.… So it is better to be bossed by men of little faith, who set their hearts on toys, than by men animated by lofty ideals who are ready to sacrifice themselves and others for a cause.
¶ The Ordeal of Change
Discontent is at the root of the creative process: … the most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their way, and must compensate for what they miss by realizing and cultivating their capacities and talents.
¶ The Ordeal of Change, Ch. 6 (1964)
Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
¶ The Passionate State of Mind (1955)
Free men are aware of the imperfection inherent in human affairs, and they are willing to fight and die for that which is not perfect. They know that basic human problems can have no final solutions, that our freedom, justice, equality, etc. are far from absolute, and that the good life is compounded of half measures, compromises, lesser evils, and gropings toward the perfect. The rejection of approximations and the insistence on absolutes are the manifestation of a nihilism that loathes freedom, tolerance, and equity.
¶ The Temper of Our Time
There is a tendency to judge a race, a nation or any distinct group by its least worthy members.
¶ The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements
It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise. This is as true of men as of dogs.
¶ “Thoughts of Eric Hoffer,” The New York Times Magazine, (25 Apr 1971)
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